Potenial Great x4 Grandfather Benjamin Branson

My potential Great x4 Grandfather Benjamin (1783 - 1855), was an agricultural labourer, father of eight, and the potential great grandfather of my great grandfather William Batchelor (c 1882 - 1939).

(Several of my DNA matches on ancestry share the ancestors Benjamin Branson and his wife Mary Enoch. It is most likely I am related to them via my great grandfather William Batchelor (c 1882 - 1939) and his father John Batchelor. Benjamin and Mary's daughter Fanny married a William Batchelor (c 1822 - 1850's) and had children - including a John Batchelor - so it is likely through this line, though I am yet to confirm just how they connect.)

Benjamin was born around 1783, in Boddington, Northamptonshire. 

(His age was given as 67 on the 1851 Census, imply a birth year of 1783 - 1784, with Boddington given as place of birth on same census. On his 1855 burial record, his age was given as 72, implying a birth year of 1782 - 1783)

On 9th November 1806, Benjamin (about 22), a labourer, married Ann Lockton, in Aston Le Walls, Northamptonshire. Both was described as of that parish. Aston Le Walls is only just over a mile from Lower Boddington.

Record of 1806 Marriage and Banns:

Benjamin and Ann had one son:

• Samuel  1807

In early 1808, Benjamin's wife Ann passed away. She was buried on 24th March 1808, in Boddington, Northamptonshire.

Late the next year, Benjamin remarried.

On 19th November 1809, widower and father of one Benjamin (about 25) married Mary Enoch, in Priors Marston, Warwickshire. 

Record of 1809 Marriage and Banns:

Benjamin was described as of the parish of Lower Boddington, Northamptonshire; whilst Mary was of Priors Marston, Warwickshire. Though from different counties, their villages are only four miles apart.

Benjamin and Mary had seven children:

• Ann  1811
• Elizabeth  1813
• Frances 'Fanny'  1815 
• Jane  1817 
• Mary Ann  1821 - 1821  (at least 6 months old)
• James  1823
• John  1825

The couple's eldest daughters, Ann and Elizabeth, were baptised in their mother's native Prior Marston, implying the young family may have been living there around 1809 - 1813. 

Their next two daughters, Fanny and Jane, was baptised in their father's native Boddington, implying the family may have been living here around 1814 - 1817.

Interestingly around 1821, Benjamin and Mary seem to have converted from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism. On 9th May that year, Mary and their daughters were baptised into that faith in Overthorpe, Northamptonshire.

Overthorpe is nine miles south of Boddington. We do not know if the family had moved to Overthorpe or traveled there to go to the Catholic church.

Public Catholic worship had been legalised in Britain, only thirty years earlier, in 1791.

Record of 1821 Catholic baptism of Benjamin's family:

In late 1821, Benjamin and Mary loss their youngest daughter, Mary Ann. She was buried on 9th December 1821, in the Anglican church in Boddington. She was at least six months old.

In 1823, their next child - a first son called James - they again had baptised into the Catholic Church in Overthorpe.

Yet they baptised their next son John into the Church of England, back in Benjamin's native Boddington.

Their daughter Fanny had two illegitmate children before she married - Owen Bliss Branson in 1833 and John Branson in 1837. Both sons were baptised in Boddington. Owen would live with his grandparents, Benjamin and Mary.

The 1841 and 1851 Census show Benjamin and his family living in his native Lower Boddington. All of his and Mary's children had left home to find work or marry by the time of the 1841 Census, apart from their teenage son James.

1841 Census: 

In 1847, Benjamin and Mary's grandson Owen was charged with stealing a tame duck and sentenced to a fortnight's imprisionment.

From the Northampton Mercury of 8th January 1848:

1851 Census:

Their nextdoor neighbour at the time of the 1851 Census was a Thomas Branson (31) and his young family. It is likely Thomas was a close relative of Benjamin.

In Apr/May/Jun 1855, Benjamin passed away, in the district of Banbury, Oxfordshire. He was buried on 30th June 1855, in St John the Baptist Churchyard, North Boddington, Northamptonshire. His age was given as seventy-two, implying a birth year of 1783.

1855 Burial Record:

Below is a map of Benjamin's local area. From his native Boddington, Northamptonshire; then one mile over to Aston le Walls where he married his first wife Ann in 1806; then up four miles (just over the border) to Priors Marston, Warwickshire, where he married his second wife Mary in 1809; then down to Overthorpe, Northamptonshire, where his wife and children was baptised in 1821. 

On this map you can see the county lines (in red), with Warwickshire on the top left, Northamptonshire on the right, and Oxfordshire on the bottom left. 

DNA Links to William Batchelor

As the paper trail for my Great Grandfather William Batchelor goes cold before 1923, I am taking a look at DNA matches - to see if any will tie into the Batchelor family further back.

I have been looking at matches shared by myself and my (half) aunt, as these have to be via our shared nearest ancestor (my grandmother, her mother), Bette. 

DNA cluster. DNA shared between me, my aunt and others.

Note the square of three squares in the centre showing Jennifer Wilson, Michael Thomas and Gwyneth Day share more DNA - we will come back to them

I have well researched my grandmother's maternal Devonshire genealogy, so can rule out any links to that side.

What I am left with should be individuals, who share DNA with myself via William Batchelor. How - I am yet to determine.

Here are some (so far unpromising) leads I found...

I found out that three DNA matches share the ancestors Edward William Herbert and Harriet Louisa Clark.

Implying I am related to one or both (if descended from them).

This line is in London in late 1800s.

I found out that eight DNA matches share the ancestors Thomas Peppiatt and Elizabeth Dock.

Implying I am related to one or both (if descended from them).

This line traces back to Buckinghamshire in the late 1700s.

I am also found that six DNA matches share the ancestors Henry Marcus Clark and Martha Annie 'Pattie' Day. 

Implying I am related to one or both (if descended from them).

This line is in Australia.

I also found out five DNA matches share the ancestors Robert Thomas Caskey and Mary Polly Dyer and/or William H Littlefield Dyer and Hannah Hopkins. 

Implying I am related to one or more (if descended from them).

These lines are firmly in America.

I also found out twelve DNA matches share the ancestors Christopher Lister Riding and Mary Ann Hale.

Implying I am related to one or both (if descended from them).

A further little look and Mary Ann Hale's maternal line is from Devon. She may simply be related to my Devon family just really far back and not the more midlandsy Batchelors.

A Promising Lead???

I also found out ten DNA matches share the ancestors, Benjamin Branson and Mary Enoch.

Implying I am related to one or both (if descended from them).

And that two DNA matches share the ancestors, James Townley and Sarah Hornsby.

Again implying I am related to one or both (if descended from them).

Another DNA cluster.

Note the large square overlapping Jennifer Wilson, Michael Thomas, Gywneth Day, Tabitha Brace and Louise Candy, showing they share more DNA. That's because they all descend from Benjamin Branson and Mary Enoch.

Of these matches noted above, Jennifer Wilson shares the most DNA with me: 44cm across 3 segments.

Ancestry roughly predicts her relationship to me (see yellow highlighted sections below). Estimating we share a great grandparent/s, great great parnent/s or great x3 grandparents. 

Gwyneth Day also shares DNA with me (37cm across 2 segments) and has similar relationship predictions to me. Gwyneth and Jennifer share the same great grandmother in Mary Ann Branson, so my connection to them is likely through Mary Ann.

Mary Ann Branson (1859 - 1906) lived in the village of Wootton Wawen, in Warwickshire. She married twice and had children between 1882 - 1902. If William was born around 1882, as later records imply, he would be the same generation as her children.

Also, Gwynth and Jennifer are both older than me - at the top end of the same generation as my mum, so seems a reasonably rough but intelligent guessimate that they would be the same level on the chart as my mum.

Going across right from my mum, the first yellow box we hit is 2nd Cousin Once Removed... If Gwyneth and Jennifer are my 2nd Cousins Once Removed, that would make Mary Ann the mother of William Batchelor. Though age wise this could be a possibility, she was married and recorded having other children then.

We go right to the next yellow box over... Puts them as my 3rd Cousins Once Removed, and Mary Ann as the sister of one of William's parents.

Or one more right across... If more distantly related to me, say a column over, and 4th Cousins Once Removed, that would make Mary Ann the first cousin of a parent of William. 

So I need to research: Mary Ann, her siblings, her parents, her grandparents, her uncles and aunts, and first cousins. 

That I also have DNA matches via other descendants of Mary Ann's parternal grandparents Benjamin Branson and Mary Enoch implies I need to look into Mary's patneral family: her father James, his siblings and their children.

Mary Ann was the youngest of five. Her father James was the youngest of eight. A rough first search puts it as Mary Ann having 28 first cousins just on her patneral side! Many of them were older than Mary Ann, meaning she would have been closer in age to their children.

As I am yet to see any Batchelors or variations of name, are we looking at William's Batchelor's maternal side here?

Not so fast!!!!!

Mary Branson indeed had a first cousin called John Batchelor. He was born in 1857, in Bourton, Oxfordshire. 

Our William was reported to be a 'native of Oxford'[shire] in a 1923 newspaper article and his 1928 marriage certificate gives his father's name as John.

A John Batchelor, born 1857, could indeed had a son as a young man, c 1882.

But can I find any connection in the records to this John Batchelor and our William Batchelor???

I have thus far traced John to the 1881 Census, when he was a young man, working as an ag lab, and staying with his older married sister Elizabeth Adams and her family in their native Little Bourton, Oxfordshire.

And now the trail goes cold. Why must the trail go cold?

Did he marry and father, or illegitimately father a son around this time? Perhaps called William? Too much to hope?

Hmm....

Trying to connect my William Batchelor to these Batchelors....

Tree of Fanny Branson and William Batchelor's children

On 4th November 1881, John and his friend James Dale were charged with being drunk and disorderly, and refusing to leave licensed premises at Bourton. (He was the only John Batchelor living in Bourton at the time of the 1881 Census, so we can be pretty certain this article is about him)

From the Banbury Guardian of 24th November 1881:

Right Sir, where have you gone? You're supposed to be having a son about now? If you did, that is.

Maybe you didn't. Maybe another family member had our William.

Hmm...

One of Fanny's daughters - most likely unmarried Sarah Ann - had an illegitimate son called William Batchelor in Oct/Nov/Dec 1869, in Bourton. On the 1871 Census, William is listed as Fanny's son (very unlikely as she would have been in her mid fifties and her last child was born over a decade before) and on the 1881 Census, he is living with Levi and his wife, and listed as his nephew.

Now three later records suggest our William was born around 1882. But this could be wrong, as a year of birth around then is not giving us much luck in the records.

The 1939 Census did give our William an October birthday: 1st October 1883.

More to think about...

Feel so close and yet so far

You'll get there one day

... (Update 10/10/2026)!!!

I ordered the birth certifate for William Batchelor born Oct/Nov/Dec 1869. He was indeed the illegitimate son of Sarah Ann Batchelor. 

But guess what!?

He was born on the 1st October!

...

My present theory, which DNA supports, is that this is our William. 

Being so much older than Dinah, he may have lied about his age - rounding it down and saying he was 20 years older than her and not over 30. But he still gave his birthday as the 1st October. 

Rather then admitting he was illegitmate when he married, he made up a name for his father. Or his father was a farmer called John, but he put Batchelor as his father's surname to match his own - again to hide the illegitimacy.

His own illegitimacy also explains why he might have been understanding of Dinah, who had had two illegitmate children.

The newspaper article in the 1920's did say William was 'a native of Oxford[shire]'.

-

William and his uncle John disappeared from censuses after 1881. We know William was a navvy by the 1920's. They may both have been working as navvies in this time. Navvies often lived in tempory camps, which Census takers failed to record.

Great x3 Aunt Mary Fisher

My Great x3 Aunt Mary (1865 - 1???) was the older sister of my Great Great Grandmother Alice Browncombe Easterbook (nee Fisher) (1868 - 1929). 

Mary was born in Mar/Apr/May 1864 in the district of Barnstaple, Devon to Richard Fisher (20), an agricultural labourer and horseman on a farm, and Elizabeth 'Bessie/Betsy' Fisher (nee Brownscombe) (22), a work woman on a farm.

Mary was baptised on 5th June 1864 in Parracombe, Devon. 

Mary and her younger siblings spent their childhoods at the family home of Westland Cottage in Challacombe, and their parents would live there for many years more. Their cottage was a real home for over sixty years! There is a Westland Farm in Challacombe still today. I wonder if Mary's parents and later her brother worked as labourers at Westland Farm.

It seems Mary's father Richard was a lovely man. In a eulogy to Richard in the North Devon Journal on 15th August 1929, he is described as: "A man of a bright and happy nature, he had a smile and a kindly word for all".

Mary was the oldest of three children (two daughters and one son):

• Mary  1865 - between 1881 and 1929 (at least 16 years old)
• John  1866 - 1933 (66 years old)
• Alice Brownscombe  1868 - 1929  (60 years old)

1871 Census:

As a teenager, Mary lived at and worked as a domestic servant at Wistlandpound farm in Kentisbury. Mary's father Richard also worked there, for the Smyth family, for over fifty years! Mary and Richard's employer was Frederick Smyth, a farmer of 1000 acres and the manager of the Exmoor estate owned by the Knight family.

1881 Census: 

Wistlandpound Farmhouse

Wistlandpound Farmhouse from above

Sadly, I am presently struggling to find Mary on records after her teenage years. Hopefully I will find something in the future.

 

What we do know is that Mary predeceased her father Richard, who died in 1929, as his death was reported in the local newspaper and his only surviving child is given as his son John.

Great x3 Half Aunt Patience Easterbook

My Great x3 Half Aunt Patience (1811 - 1811) was an older half sister of my Great Great Grandfather Ezekiel Herd Easterbrook (1839 - 1920).

Patience was born around 1811 in Exbourne, Devon, to Walter Easterbrook (about 22), an agricultural labourer, and Ann Easterbrook (nee Ballamy), a housewife.

Patience was baptised on Christmas Eve (24th December) 1811, in Exbourne.

Patience was the youngest of three children (two girls and one boy):

• Ann  1810 - ?
• Thomas  1810 - 1811 (0 years old)
• Patience  1811 - 1811 (0 years old)

Sadly Patience's older brother Thomas died young. He was buried seven months after he was baptised. Assuming he was baptised as a young baby, he was probably not yet one year old, when he passed away. On 4th April 1811, Thomas was buried, in Exbourne. 

Eight months later, Patience herself also passed away as a very young baby. 

On 27th December 1811, Patience was buried, in Exbourne. She had only been baptised three days before!

Then Patience's mother Ann passed away.

On 14th October 1812, Ann was buried, in Sampford Courtenay (about two and half miles from Exbourne, where Thomas was baptised).

Later in life, Patience's father Walter had another son.

Patience had one younger half brother:

• Ezekiel Herd Easterbrook 1839 - 1920  (80 years old)

On a personal note, I love the name Patience.

Great x3 Half Uncle Thomas Easterbook

My Great x3 Half Uncle Thomas (1810 - 1811) was an older half brother of my Great Great Grandfather Ezekiel Herd Easterbrook (1839 - 1920).

Thomas was born around 1810 in Exbourne, Devon, to Walter Easterbrook (about 21), an agricultural labourer, and Ann Easterbrook (nee Ballamy), a housewife.

Thomas was baptised, alongside his sister Ann, on 12th August 1810, in Exbourne, Devon. They may have been twins.

Thomas was one of three children (two girls and one boy):

• Ann  1810 - ?
• Thomas  1810 - 1811 (0 years old)
• Patience  1811 - 1811 (0 years old)

Sadly Thomas died young. He was buried seven months after he was baptised. Assuming he was baptised as a young baby, he was probably not yet one year old, when he passed away.

On 4th April 1811, Thomas was buried, in Exbourne. 

Eight months later, Thomas's younger sister Patience also passed away as a young baby. On 27th December 1811, Patience was buried, in Exbourne.

Then Thomas's mother Ann passed away.

On 14th October 1812, Ann was buried, in Sampford Courtenay (about two and half miles from Exbourne, where Thomas was baptised).

Later in life, Thomas' father Walter had another son.

Thomas had one younger half brother:

• Ezekiel Herd Easterbrook 1839 - 1920  (80 years old)

Great x 3 Half Aunt Ann Easterbrook

My Great x3 Half Aunt Ann (1810 - ?) was an older half sister of my Great Great Grandfather Ezekiel Herd Easterbrook (1839 - 1920).

Ann was born around 1810 in Exbourne, Devon, to Walter Easterbrook (about 21), an agricultural labourer, and Ann Easterbrook (nee Ballamy), a housewife.

Ann was named for her mother.

Ann was baptised, alongside her brother Thomas, on 12th August 1810, in Exbourne, Devon. They may have been twins.

Ann was one of three children (two girls and one boy):

• Ann  1810 - ?
• Thomas  1810 - 1811 (0 years old)
• Patience  1811 - 1811 (0 years old)

An infant herself, Ann lost both of her siblings.

On 4th April 1811, Thomas was buried, in Exbourne. 

On 27th December 1811, Patience was buried, in Exbourne.

Then Ann's mother passed away.

On 14th October 1812, Ann's mother of the same name was buried, in Sampford Courtenay (about two and half miles from Exbourne, where Ann was born). 

Ann's father Walter was left, in his early twenties, a widower, with little daughter Ann. 

What happened to baby Ann?

Presently, alas, I am struggling to determine, but I will try again to research in the future. 

Later in life, Ann's father Walter had another son.

Ann had one younger half brother:

• Ezekiel Herd Easterbrook 1839 - 1920  (80 years old)

Great x3 Uncle Frederick John Manning

My Great x3 Uncle Frederick (1882 - 1882) was the youngest brother of my Great Great Grandmother Grandmother Mary Ann 'Polly' Boobier (nee Manning) (1869 - 1916).

Frederick was born in around early to mid February 1882 in Exeter, Devon to William Manning (about 53), a general labourer, and Mary Ann Manning (nee Ireland) (about 42), a laundress.

Frederick was baptised on 17th March 1882, in St Leonard, Exeter.

Frederick was the youngest of nine children (five daughters and four sons):

• Emma  1865 - 1866 (11 months old)
• William  1868 - 1920 (51 years old)
• Mary Ann 'Polly' 1869 - 1919 (48 years old)
• Kate  1871 - 1916 (46 years old)
• Rose  1875 - 1877 (2 years old)
• Samuel  1877 - 1877 (11 weeks old)
• James  1878 - 1887 (8 years old)
• Unnamed Daughter  1880 - 1880 (0 years old)
• Frederick John  1882 - 1882 (6 weeks old)

Sixteen years before Frederick was born, his oldest sister Emma had passed away, aged eleven months old, in 1866.

Five years before Frederick was born, in August 1877, his older siblings two-year-old Rose and eleven-week-old Samuel both passed away. Did they both succumb to the same illness?

Another older sister - a unnamed baby girl - passed away on the day of her birth in 1880.

Around March 1882, Frederick himself passed away, at six-weeks-old, in Exeter.

He was buried on 26th March 1882, in St Leonard, Exeter.

His older brother, eight-year-old James, passed away in 1887.